Tuesday 3 Jan 2017

January 3: Romans 10:9-13

Key Verse: Romans 10:13
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Devotion:
One of the most popular new year resolutions has got to be “I'll be good this year” and it is probably the first to be broken each year too! No matter how hard we try, there is always a slip of the tongue or a word taken out of context which is going to get you into trouble with someone. And when that happens you find yourself on the defensive and fall into the trap of telling a white lie or two...

No matter how hard we try to be good, our bad side always seems to show. What we need to do in our lives is to try and limit the trouble we do get into by always remembering we need to seek forgiveness from those whom we do upset. Without first seeking that forgiveness, we are not going to succeed in smoothing things out! We need to go out with the attitude we will be the first ones for forgive and forget otherwise we may well be waiting a long time for someone else to forgive and forget!

When we go out with that sort of attitude, it is easier for us to see how Christ went out with the same attitude. He came to earth to forgive people, not to condemn people. His attitude from the start was to save us and to allow us to see just how easy it is to find salvation through Him. These verses in the book of Romans allow us to see that it is as simple as believing in Him as asking for that forgiveness. His answer will always be yes!

One other thing to understand is how that forgiveness is going to last forever when we do admit our belief in Him. Sometimes in our lives we start to make a habit of forgiving someone only to blame them again a few days later; or we make a habit of saying sorry for things when we do the same things wrong over and over… We then see the folly in their ways or ours... The same applies with our belief in Him. If we are serious about our belief, then He is just about forgiving us – if not, He sees straight through us!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like forgiving people?

Are you straight with God?